St Nicholas Islip

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Nicholas Islip  the second of the churches I visited around North Oxford a s few weeks ago. This is a church I was looking forward to seeing after realising it was not too far away. A little History off Wikipedia below though if you go to the link above you can read a little more :-

"Edward the Confessor (born circa 1004, died 1066) was born in Islip and tradition holds that he was baptised in a church here. Parts of the present church date from about 1200. The chancel was rebuilt in 1780 and the church was restored in 1861. The church is Islip's only Grade I Listed Building. The belltower has a ring of eight bells. Since 1987 the Church of England parish has been part of the Ray Valley Benefice.

A chapel associated with Edward the Confessor existed north of the church. The chapel was damaged in April 1645 in a military engagement in the English Civil War, and in the 1780s it was demolished.

The former rectory was built in 1689 for Robert South and enlarged in 1807 for William Vincent. It is one of several Grade II* Listed Buildings in Islip"

 

 This is the view of the church from near the village centre and where you could park

Walking along the path to the opposite side you come to the west end an bell tower

Looking across the churchyard to the east end

Walking past the chancel end with the priest door

Another view of the west end and tower

Here you can see the tower and north aisle

Walking around the north side you can see an extension that has been added on with chimney indicating this may be a vestry

 

 

 The north side of the church

 

Looking from further along towards the east end
 

East end of the church with a fenced tomb chest
 

 

Another shot of the east end from near the path

 

 

A lot of older graves can be seen here at the east end

Roy Stuart Lee and Catherine were a long way from their native home

Graves you can see while walking along the path on the south side

Further along at the west end

And the south west end

A couple of tombs can be seen here on the west end of the church

Looking east along the north side

This is one of the tombs on at the west end of the church

Simple headstone of Gerard L'estrange Turner and his wife Helen Elizabeth

Mixture of headstones on the far north side of the church

Looking west on the same side

East end showing a couple of tombs

In the south side is this wonderful old chest tomb

Near the chancel end you find these older headstones

By the church this older one with the inscription gone

Another sinking in the ground the headstone eroding

 

I will leave you with this shot of the cowslips that grown in the churchyard.

Visit this link to see the inside 

Till Next time Take Care and have a wonderful weekend